The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-08-20
EMIGRATION'S TIDE.
SCENES IN THE LABOR BUREAU
At CASTLE GARDEN.
Work Of tho Board Of Emigration-Juss
Before tho Stranger Stsrts-Scandins.
vians, Germans aud Itaiians-A Pic.
turesquely Dirty Lot.

Before tho Stranger Starts-Scandins.
vians, Germans and Isalians-A Pic.
turesqueiy Dirty Lot.
The garden is at its liveliest Just before the
steamer starts. There Is rush for the boat
then, and you can see forlorn specimens Ut
half dozen races tumbling over one another
IN their haste TO get aboard. Dirty Italians
with big greasy bags on their backs prcdem-
mate. Then come the stold Germans and
the heavy faced blonde Swedes and Norwe.
gians. Y Here and there is a pugnacious Eng
lishman with red cheeks and double trimmed
cap. Frenchmen are scarce Emigration
from France, Of course, is small. Emigra-
ton from Ireland, as every one knows, is I'M
usually large. Yet lrishmen are not often
seen in the Garden. 1t takes new recruit
from Dublin or Cork about two days to be .
naturalized citizen. In week he is on the
police force, and after that he is ready for
any public vacancy from seat in the board
OF aldermen up 70 a commissioner OF enigra.
| ton itself.
Most Of the English speaking emigrants, In
fact, know enough TO get start here without
troubling the emigration board at all. Four
| fifths Of the Castle Garden tenants are Ital.
|
less easily managed lot, with scarcely spark
Of humor among them The Swcdes aud
Norwegians look sober and anxious They
are better dressed and cleaner, too, than the
rest, with II more decided air Of country
sturdiness about them. Now and then one
sees pretty face, that Of bride genera ally,
whose honeymoon graces have somehow sur
vived IA ten days steerage passage. But both
| anil hovA hon, l,l,1,
aud their lack Of English to put it in words
makes it only the more pathetic and dis
| tressing.
| The Germans travel more in families. They
have duh, philosophical air Of resignation.
| II they can only get their beer and Bohemian
hard tack they will not grumble. So they sit
patiently on their bags and boxes and wait
! for the emigration clerks 10 dispose OF them
Ii the vermin Of the Garden trouble them
and they are not as clean us they ough to b
they take that merely as another of the un,
avoidable ills of life.
The Italians are pcturcsquely dirty lot.
They have a mad dogs aversion to running
water, and steer clear of the water spigots as
Vaccinations Of the evil one. So they have
all the filth they want with its attendant ex'
elements. 1t is no uncommon thing down in
the Garden TO see an Italian woman run her
fingers critically over a child's head, dart
vciously down at the tiny prey. hold her
fingers ami thumb at arms length and give
snap like the falling of a guillotine. Then
the machine like digging and scraping goes
on again. The child pays no attention to it,
absorbed in sucking its dirty thumb. But the
grinning mother seems to enjoy the sport
hugely.
Every Italian emigrants instinct is to keep
his eye as closely as possible on his filthy bag
of household goods. No system of checks
can ever satisfy one of these ignorant crea'
lures that he is not going to be robbed, and
men and women and children hang pitifully
for hours at time about the door Of the
baggage room at the Garden for a glimpse
of their nasty belongings inside. When the
express cart comes to carry the stuff away
there will be a string of wretched owners jog.
ging doggedly behind the tail board to the
end of the route. even il it leads away up to
one Of the furthest aqueduct shafts.
The Italians stick together more tenaciously
than the other emigrants. They hang around
the Garden in groups and sleep on the floor
at night literally in huddles Macaroni
cooked on shipboard is their chief food, and
they are far too poor and too saving to spend
their pennies at the Garden restaurant
The Labor bureau is one OF the busiest spots
in Castle Garden. 1t is low, one story
frame house adjoining the castle proper,
where the German and other foreign societies
of New York have setup free employment
agency. All emigrants have the privilege
of leaving their names and occupations on
the bureaus books. and any employer may
look over the list and make his offers free Of
charge The Office Is open from a. m. to
p m. every day, and larger business ID
done probably than at any other agency OF
this sort in New York.
The bureau ia divided into two rooms, one
for linen and one for women, and outside each
are pasted OH blackboard the long lists OF
wants. The same want notice is put in Eng.
lish, German, Scandinavian and sometimes
French. The standing one in French last
week seemed to be "On desire dix coupers dc
bois-Tcn woodchoppers wanted" The list Of
German and Scandinavian wants is always
an intricate and polysylabled one The men
come in from the Garden, glance at the black
board shyly and sit down on the benches tO
wait
Most of the men in the Labor bureau so for
laborers, farm hands, stablemen or porters.
The Swedes and Norwegians stand high on
account of their honesty and faithfulness
The Italians are packed of chiefly under the
charge Of some contractor or padrone OF
their own.
Over on the women's side are lot OF re-
cruits for domestic service Left to them
selves the women are much cleaner and
heater looking than the men, and two months
in city household would level them all up
to fair phase of responsibility. A few Irish
girls are to he seen among the crowd on the
benches The women are all inpatient, and
there is a general movement Ct suspense
when a fat boarding house mistress or q
cheap restaurant proprietor comes in. The
bureau is an easy resource when the employ
ment agencies uptown fail and all sorts Of
housewives occasionally drop in.
With all the conveniences and advantages
which Castle Garden offers now, it Is hard to
realize the dangers and horrors Of the old
overcrowded emigrant houses, tainted with
disease and stained with foul play and crime.
Only a few of the old runners and steer
ers" are left now and the fry they catch is
next to worthless The gates Of the Garden
are closed threateningly against them and
the police have an eye on their smartest
tricks.-New York Tribune.